The Last Gardenia

Synopsis

The day Rowena Ashworth came home was the day of my Naming Day feast. Mother, with tender affection, had dressed me in a gown of moondrift silk. The moment I turned around, the true daughter emerged in coarse sackcloth. Someone whispered, asking who this ill-mannered servant girl could be. My second brother Peregrine was the first to sneer at me. "So this was your scheme all along?" My eldest brother Alaric looked at me, disappointment heavy in his gaze. "Liana, you should never have flaunted yourself like this." Even my betrothed, Caspian Peverell, unmasked our tangled birthright before the entire assembly, leaving me utterly humiliated. Just as despair swallowed me whole, a row of Whispering Threads shimmered before my eyes: "Little Darling, don't cry! They only want to teach you obedience—they don't truly hate you!" "Your betrothed has simply lost his memory. Give him just a little time!" I lowered my head and smiled faintly. It no longer mattered. Because I had already purchased a ticket for a ship departing in one month's time.